Dear reader,
Don’t seek in this post the review of the film The Color of Pomegranates, a film claiming to not be a biography of the poet Sayat-Nova, but is in fact merely striving to convey, by means of cinema, the pictorial world of that poetry. This post strives to convey not a review of the film, but merely a feel, by means of rambling words and poorly planned introductions, of how much the writer didn’t care for it one bit. 
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Two girls, both named Marie (Jitka Cerhová & Ivana Karbanová) decide that since the world has gone bad, surely they must be allowed to as well. Thus initiates a series of increasingly anarchic and madcap escapades as the two wreck havoc wherever they go.
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Jake LaMotta (Robert DeNiro) was a middleweight boxer in 1940s and 50s New York. Known as something of a brawler both in and out of the ring, his animalistic tendencies, relationship paranoia and microscopic fuse often found him at odds with his brother Joey (Joe Pesci), second wife Vickie (Cathie Moriarty) and pretty much everyone else he met along the way.
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There’s a lot to catch you all up on this week, but given the proximity of the end of the month I’ll save it for the monthly round-up. Instead, let’s dive straight into what I’ve been watching recently:
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Michelangelo “Mikaeli” Caravaggio (Dexter Fletcher) is a painter and street hustler in late 16th Century Italy when he catches the eye of the wealthy Cardinal Del Monte (Michael Gough), who proceeds to fund the boy’s artwork. Growing up (into Nigel Terry) Caravaggio lives a hedonistic lifestyle, fornicating with his models – both male and female – eventually leading to a complicated love triangle between himself, street fighter Ranuccio (Sean Bean) and his manager/lover Lena (Tilda Swinton) which is unlikely to end well for anyone involved.
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This review was originally written for Blueprint: Review.
Today is Jack’s birthday, he is five years old. To him, the whole world is Room, an 11×11 foot enclosure outside of which he has never been. He lives with his mother, Ma, plays with Egg Snake under Bed, eats with Meltedy Spoon and sometimes, when Old Nick visits, Jack has to sleep in Wardrobe, counting the groans before Old Nick falls asleep. The stuff on TV is all fantasy, things that don’t exist in real life. Jack’s world ends at the walls, the floor, the ceiling, the skylight and the heavy metal door, locked with a keypad combination. Beyond that, there is nothing.
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When she is forced to babysit her infant half-brother Toby, selfish teenager Sarah (Jennifer Connelly) invokes a goblin magic spell that summons Jareth, the Goblin King (David Bowie) to snatch Toby and take him to the Goblin Kingdom. Sarah has just thirteen hours to make her way through Jareth’s labyrinth to save Toby, or he’ll be turned into a goblin and will stay there forever.
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This will be a short one this week folks, as I’ve watched little and written even less. Don’t expect a great deal from me this coming week either, as I’m off on holiday in a few hours. Please insert the usual apologies and concessions of my uselessness and failures.
However, something I will take a moment to note is the passing of a friend and fellow blogger. Chip Lary, of Tips From Chip, passed away almost three weeks ago. He had been ill for a while, and had recently undergone an operation to remove his gall bladder, but it is unclear as to whether this was the cause of his passing. Either way, Chip was one of my first ever followers back on my Blogspot site, and was a very active member of the 1001 Movies community back when that was more of a thing, when The Film Vituperatum was more active. There were a few occasions when I became tempted to throw the whole 1001 List thing and blogging in general out the window, and Chip was always there with a helpful and motivational comment of some sort, or a suggestion to take a break for a little bit and come back refreshed, which I’ve done a few times and ordinarily works a treat. In all honesty I’ve not read much on Chip’s site for a while, but that’s more because I struggle to find the time to read anyone else’s site, which is something that desperately needs to change for me. Regardless, I’ll always be grateful for the help Chip gave me, the community he never failed to participate in, the endless spreadsheets he created for the 1001 List and beyond, and the kindness he showed to a writer just starting out. He will be missed. If you’d like to donate to a collection for flowers for his funeral, being arranged by Steve Honeywell of 1001 Plus, please head here: https://www.gofundme.com/2xkqxxjs.
Last year, when I asked some of my blogging friends to suggest some films on the 1001 List for me to watch, Chip submitted a not-at-all surprisingly really long list. I’ve still got 17 of those films to review, so I’ll be making an effort to watch those as a priority, despite them including some of the longer films on the list. Also, Chip is one of the few people I know to have completed the entirety of the 1001 List, so I’ve asked him what films were bad on there too. I’ve still got 18 of those to go (jeez) so those will be my priority “Bad” movie picks too. Steve, I’ll get back to your suggestions next year, I’m sure you’ll understand. You and Chip had a lot of crossover anyway.
So here’s what I watched this week:
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Wait, is it Friday already? Has it actually been an entire week since the last one of these was (supposed to be) posted? I refuse to believe this. 2016 is rolling past way faster than it should be, and that’s the only reason I can think of for why I’m behind on everything. There’s no possible way that seven whole mornings, days, evenings and nights have just happened. Nope. Something is seriously wrong here.
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Progress remains slow and disappointing here at Life vs Film, and the realisation that my targets are out of my grasp becomes ever clearer, and as much as I’d like to either a) knuckle down and get on top of them or b) let it go and take what is essentially my own blog upon which I make all the rules, I seem unable to stop stressing about everything in a way that makes no sense and will be of zero benefit to anyone, with the distinct exception of some inevitable therapist who will profit handsomely from my myriad of psychological issues. What I need to do is focus on the positives. Whilst I didn’t meet my targets for April, I still reviewed more 1001 Movies than in the previous two months. Whilst a couple of podcast episodes went disastrously wrong in terms of scheduling or losing the recordings, I still had a great deal of fun at the time. And whilst I neither enjoyed the new book or new destination this month, I’ve now taken one of the heftier tomes off my shelf and still found somewhere new to walk the dog in the future. Every cloud and all that. Here’s how the month ended up:
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Life Vs Film 